This invention relates generally to the manufacture of basket type bottle carriers and more particularly to such bottle carrier manufacture with the center cells formed by separate inserts.
Basket type bottle carriers made from paperboard, cardboard or like sheet material with the center cells in the carrier formed by partition inserts are well known in the art. An example of this type bottle carrier is illustrated in my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 3,236,414. In this type bottle carrier, the main paperboard blank and the inserts typically have a common thickness. While this thickness is typically sufficient for most types of transportation, some types of transportation such as rail transportation require a greater thickness of material between the bottles in the carrier than this common thickness. All of the material thicknesses between the bottles typically meet this requirement except the opposite sides of the center cells of the carton. One solution to this compliance problem is to glue an additional strip of material along the insert on opposite sides of the center cell along the points of contact between the bottles. The fabrication of this improved carrier has proved difficult in that the movement of both of the strips with that of the inserts and carrier blanks must be synchronized in order to produce an adequate carrier.